Pacific goes up against ex-Tiger

The 155th meeting between the Pacific and Fresno State men's basketball programs will feature a reunion of sorts tonight at Save Mart Center.

Jagdip Dhillon

The 155th meeting between the Pacific and Fresno State men's basketball programs will feature a reunion of sorts tonight at Save Mart Center.

The Bulldogs' starting point guard is redshirt junior Allen Huddleston, who spent two seasons at Pacific before transferring in April 2011. Huddleston was among four Tigers to leave that spring, and it left coach Bob Thomason with a massive rebuilding project that began with an 11-19 finish last season with a brand new roster.

The Tigers (1-0) are hoping for a much better campaign in Thomason's 25th and final season with the program, and the first test of the new season coming at 7 tonight against the Bulldogs (1-1).

Fresno State lost 55-53 to No. 25 Texas last week before getting a 39-30 win over UC Riverside on Wednesday night. This will be Pacific's first game against a Division I opponent, and Thomason said the Tigers will be without junior transfer Aaron Short, who reinjured his previously fractured right foot and could miss the season if he needs surgery.

Thomason and Huddleston had kind words for each other Thursday, but the 21-year-old Merced High product admitted he left Pacific 19 months ago because he felt constrained by the coach's offense.

"I felt it was the best decision for me because the way the coach Thomason likes to play basketball just wasn't for me," Huddleston said. "He did teach me things that stay with me, but I wanted to get out into the open court and use my speed and Coach T likes a halfcourt game on offense and defense."

Thomason recalled Huddleston averaging 16.5 points per game as the starting shooting guard in Pacific's final six games of 2010-11 and still believes Huddleston may have been swept up in Jose Rivera, Chuck Coley and Stephon Lamar leaving at the same time. Huddleston averaged 11.1 points per game for the season.

"Allen is a great young man and I have no regrets about it," Thomason said. "I think he got caught up in the other guys leaving and not thinking about what was best for him. He would have had a lot of shots in our scheme last season and this year."

Huddleston said he wanted to leave the program after his freshman season, but his parents, including Merced College women's coach Allen Huddleston Sr., advised against it and told him to try it for another year. He arrived at the same conclusion after his second season and weighed transferring to Boston College, but ultimately chose Fresno State partially because of its proximity to Merced.

Having settled in with the Bulldogs after sitting out last season, Huddleston is averaging a team-high 13 points a game under coach Rodney Terry. The second-year coach is happy to have him and made the 6-foot-2, 185-pound Huddleston convert to point guard while he sat out last season. Huddleston worked as the backup point guard in practice last season and is still trying to find a balance between scoring and passing.

"We wanted him to facilitate the offense and be a dual threat because we know he can score," Terry said. "Being a coach's son, he really understands the game."